Man invited to take part in threesome goes on trial for rape

A jobless young man, who was invited by a man he met online to take part in a threesome with the latter's girlfriend without her knowledge and consent, was concerned about whether his hairy legs could give the game away, the High Court heard yesterday.

This emerged on the first day of the trial of Srihari Mahendran, 23, on 10 charges of various sexual offences - including four for rape - against the woman in 2016.

Testifying as a prosecution witness, the woman's former boy-friend said: "His legs were hairier than mine, he was asking if it might give (the game) away."

The former boyfriend's solution: pantyhose.

The 28-year-old former auxiliary police officer is serving a jail term of 19 years and 11 months.

He cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the identity of the woman, now 28.

He pleaded guilty last year to abetting Srihari to rape and sexually assault the victim.

The woman, who allowed herself to be blindfolded and bound during sex with her then boyfriend, said she believed that she was having sex with him at all times.

On the night of April 29, 2016, the man let Srihari into a room at Hotel 81 Bugis while she was bound and blindfolded. He had sex with her before Srihari took over.

Later that year on Aug 7, he again had Srihari join them in a tryst at M Social Hotel in Robertson Quay. The woman eventually realised someone else was in the room and removed her blindfold and untied herself as Srihari made his escape.

Both men were arrested at the hotel. Srihari's DNA was later found in swabs taken from her body.

Yesterday, the former boyfriend told the court how he hatched a plan with Srihari to fulfil his fantasy of watching another man have sex with his girlfriend.

The couple began engaging in soft bondage practices after watching the movie 50 Shades Of Grey to "spice things up", but she rejected his idea of having a threesome.

In 2015, he began chatting on-line with Srihari, then 20, on sexual matters.

He said he told Srihari that his girlfriend was "not okay" with a threesome and that she could not know that another man was having sex with her. "(Srihari's) sense of keen eagerness in the idea made me discuss with him more about how this would happen," he said.

He asked Srihari to describe himself, and the latter said he was of average build and of Arab descent.

He also asked for a picture of the lower part of Srihari's body. "If he looks okay or better than me, if (the victim) found out, she won't be too angry about it," he said.

The two men discussed precautions to ensure she could not tell that another person was having sex with her. These included using pantyhose, maintaining silence and for Srihari to refrain from smoking.

When Deputy Public Prosecutor Ng Yiwen asked if he knew that his plan was an offence, the man replied: "At the time, it wasn't at the top of my head."

The man saw Srihari for the first time on April 29, 2016, outside the hotel. "He looked nothing like how he described himself," he said.

However, he did not abort the plan. "It was already in the pipeline, it was just a matter of making it happen or not."

He described how he let Srihari into the room after tying the woman's hands, blindfolding her, putting pantyhose on her and turning on the TV to mask any sounds.

He recorded Srihari having sex with the woman on video, and even made sounds of moaning to reinforce the illusion that he was the one carrying out the acts.

The prosecution will be admitting the recordings as well as text messages between the two men to prove that Srihari was cognisant of the plan for him to have sex with the victim without her knowledge.

The trial continues.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on November 06, 2019, with the headline 'Man invited to take part in threesome goes on trial for rape'. Print Edition | Subscribe

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